Steel Equinox
by Rommel1942
Summary: Things were looking pretty bad for Beacon and the city of Vale once the Grimm set in, but suddenly, several key United States military installations are teleported around the city. It's time the Grimm were delivered copious amounts of freedom.
1. Transition

So, I've got a massive desire to throw the might of the United States military at the Grimm, especially after the events of Volume 3. Are you ready for some freedom?

Any relation or similarities the following characters may have to real life people are entirely coincidental. Fictional names will be used along with real life facilities and vessels.

 **Transition**

 **Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton**

Lieutenant Jonathan "Al" Allen grinned as he watched the HEAT round slam into the target dummy and explode. "Good hit. Repeat, good hit." He lowered his binoculars before poking his head back into the turret. "Nice shot Jack."

Sargent Miranda "Jack" Jaqueline gave him a smile from the gunner's seat. "Thanks boss, I try my best." Al stood back up over the turret and spoke into his radio. "Grizzly 2, fire when ready."

"Roger that Grizzly 1."

Suddenly a flash emanated from a tank about fifty yards from Al's own, and a few moments later a second flash occurred where another target used to be.

"Grizzly 2, confirm hit."

"Good hit Grizzly 1. Repeat, good hit."

" _Ah, love live fire days. Nice to just sit back and watch shit blow up."_ Al was about to give the go ahead to Grizzly 3, but suddenly a white flash filled the sky, and to any onlooker, nothing had changed. But, to those within Camp Pendleton, well, they were in for a surprise.

* * *

 **Naval Station Norfolk**

Admiral Thomas Kelly was currently trying to figure what the hell just happened. One moment, he was touring the recently commissioned USS Gerald R Ford, and now it, and the entirety of Naval Station Norfolk, had been moved to some very unfamiliar waters and there were currently dozens of black…. things flying about and harassing the ship.

"I need security on the deck getting those contacts off the ship. Signal all nearby ships and order them to get their air defenses up." He was about to issue more orders when one of the communications officers addressed him.

"Sir, there are a couple of birds in the sky, said something about a night flying exercise; they're requesting order."

"Tell them weapons free, we have to clean up these skies. And get word out to Eisenhower and Washington; see if they can get any more birds in the sky."

* * *

 **Fort Bragg**

Private Charles Crawford shouted obscenities as he fired into the large mass of black, shadow, monster things. He, and the rest of the 82nd, and the rest of Fort Bragg for that matter, were currently fending off these weird beasts. Luckily they weren't caught by surprise too badly; the giant white light that persisted for about 5 minutes had made sure all the personnel were on full alert, and they had managed to push the… things out past the perimeter. While the ground soldiers focused on defending the perimeter, the base's AA was lighting up the sky, keeping the flyers off their boys' backs.

As Crawford and his comrades figured out, these things were quite tough, though they could be downed with sufficient fire. He only hoped their ammunition held as the hoard didn't look intent on stopping anytime soon. He continued firing controlled bursts into the mass, resisting the urge to just hold down the trigger. He finished off one of the larger ones before he had to change mag, and watched the thing dissolve into nothing as he did so. That was probably what creeped him out most, and indicated to him some fuckery was afoot when the hell spawn just disappeared instead of leaving a corpse. It gave him the chills, but he ignored it as he fought on.

* * *

 **Barksdale Airfield**

Major Daniel Lawrence steeled himself as he lifted off in his A10-Thunderbolt, otherwise known as the Warthog. From whatever the hell happened, Barksdale had been placed in a relatively calm position, nothing more than a handful of the demon things had attacked them, and once coms had been established between Barksdale, Pendleton, Norfolk, and Bragg, the flyboys of Barksdale were being tasked with providing air support to assist the defense of the other bases. The USS George Washington, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and USS Gerald R. Ford would be providing support as soon as they took control of the skies around them.

"Major, you've been quiet this entire time. What do you think of this whole mess?" His co-pilot Lieutenant Mark Butler spoke up over the coms.

"Honestly, I'm just focusing on our orders right now. It's the most I can do right now as frettin' over our cosmological position and what not ain't gonna do our boys any good." He paused as he oriented the aircraft to head towards Fort Bragg. "Right now our job is to fuck shit up; we can philosophically examine our situation later." As they approached the base, Lawrence scanned the skies for any of the enemy flyers. He was briefed they wouldn't be able to catch the A10, but better safe than sorry. What caught his eye however was the large city to his right. A large, partially destroyed sky scraper dominated the skylight. He had also been briefed that it was some sort of native city, and the Barksdale was to the northeast, Bragg was to the southeast, Pendleton was on the southern coastline, and Norfolk was on the northern coastline, a veritable perimeter of US military installations around the native city.

When Fort Bragg was in sight, they also saw the black mass that was what command had officially referred to as Demons. "All right, lets light 'em up."

The ground personnel cheered as the awesome " **BRRRRRRRRRT"** was unleashed on the demons, cutting swaths out of the group.

* * *

 **?**

Captain Keith Stuart scanned the street ahead of him with his rifle. He, and the rest of 1st Ranger Battalion has been in Syria mopping up ISIS forces in the area when they had been oh so rudely pulled into this urban environment with evil hell beasts attacking the local populace. Keith, and the rest of the Battalion decided they needed to secure a defensible position within the city and were in the process of doing that when they got word from a General Gunther at Fort Bragg ordering them to locate and establish contact with native forces.

Captain Stuart was leading Bravo Company into what looked like the city's capitol building. It was located on its own and it had the tallest building in the city. As they approached, they saw activity occurring in front of the facility. "Does anyone have a clear sight of the contacts in front of us?" He spoke into his radio.

"Sir, it appears to be group of locals fighting off the demon things and… some giant robots." Well that was new.

"All right Bravo, looks like we might be able to make contact with local forces. We're going to go in and secure the area. Watch your lines of fire; we don't need to be hitting any friendlies. Move out."


	2. Rangers Lead the Way

**Rangers Lead the Way**

 **Beacon Academy**

Pyrrha took a moment to get her bearings. Fighting was intense on the way to the Beacon main building from the landing pads; Grimm assaulted the students from the moment they left the Bullhead. They were now on the front lawn clearing the area of the ancient foe. Suddenly gunfire erupted from behind her, slamming into the Grimm. She turned to see a large group of oddly dressed men with guns advancing towards Beacon, fighting off the Grimm as they did so. Her observation was interrupted when an Ursa charged at her. With a flurry of slashes she was able to eliminate the beast, but then one of the Atlas mechs blindsided her with a backhand, sending her towards the group of men. As she got up she watched them steadily engage the plethora of enemies. Then one of the men started to issue orders to the others.

"I need those robots taken out! Conrad, Williams! Prime AT4 rockets." A couple of men, probably the ones the man called on unslung odd looking tubes from their backs and mounted them on their shoulders.

"Back blast area clear!"

"Fire!"

Suddenly a gouts of flame erupted from the odd odd tubes and a ball of fire each impacted with two of the mechs, sending up a cloud of smoke a debris. When the dust settled, the two mechs were revealed to have been destroyed.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" Pyrrha turned to see the man that had given the orders.

"Y-yes, I'm fine. Are you here to help?" The man nodded.

"Yes indeed, but we need to locate one of your leaders or officials. Would you know of any?"

"Oh, that would be Professor Ozpin, he's-" Suddenly Ozpin appeared in the doorway of Beacon. A wave of uncertainty fell over Pyrrha as she saw him. "He's over there, come with me I guess." As she ran off, she was soon followed by Jaune. Behind her, the man gave out more orders.

"Sarge! Take control of the defense. Nicolas, Hernandez, Scott, and Walt, come with me!"

 **?**

Captain Stuart, accompanied by his selected men and two of the teenagers, ran up to the supposed Professor Ozpin. The man looked to be about forty to fifty years old and had a pair of glasses and a cane. "Sir, are you in charge around here?" Ozpin gave him a puzzled look as he sized him up.

"Yes, I am the headmaster of Beacon academy. What is your purpose here?"

"I've been ordered by my superiors to locate any local officials and it seems like you fit the ticket. Is there anything my men and I can do to help?" Ozpin thought for a moment before responding.

"All right then, come with me." The group ran through the building before getting into an elevator The Americans were clearly uncomfortable with what was going on.

"Ozpin sir, where are we going exactly?" The silver haired man sighed.

"We're securing a valuable asset that is crucial for the survival of our civilization." Hernandez whistled.

"Man, that would indeed be a valuable asset."

"What, you mean like a nuke or somethin'?"

"Cut the chatter."

"Sorry boss man."

Once the elevator hit the ground the group, taking Ozpin's lead, sprinted down what Stuart found to be quite the spooky and menacing hallway. While they were running the lad with the sword and shield spoke up and asked the question the Rangers had been thinking.

"What is this place?" The question was directed at the girl, who looked shifty for a moment,

"It's… a vault." An incredulous look adorned the boy's face.

"You've been here before?" They continued to run, small arms fire and an occasional explosion from above interrupted the silence. "What would the school need to hide?"

The group finally came onto what looked like a pair of cryo stasis pods from some sort of sci-fi movie. Ozpin immediately started to work on a console between them while Pyrrha climbed into one of the pods. He called out to the group, "if you want to help then guard this location, it is of the utmost importance." Stuart stepped forward.

"How long do you need to do whatever it is you're doing?" Ozpin continued to work on the console.

"Maybe thirty minutes, why?" Stuart then activated his radio.

"Sarge, we're going to be guarding a VIP and a high priority asset for about thirty mikes, prepare the defense accordingly, I'm calling in evac. Over."

"Roger that. Over." Stuart then adjusted the frequency of his comms.

"Norfolk, this is Captain Stuart of the First Ranger Battalion, Bravo Company. Are you receiving? Over."

"Captain Stuart this is Norfolk, loud and clear, over."

"I've got a VIP and a high priority asset that are going to need extraction in thirty mikes. Over."

"Roger that we will send a few birds for extraction. Over." As he spoke, tubes connecting the two pods started to glow orange and private Scott walked over to the left pod, which apparently held a woman in it.

"Man, what sort of freaky, voodoo shit is going on here?" He got up close to get a look at the woman inside, but suddenly there was a whistling in the air and Scott was hit in the back by what appeared to be an arrow. The Rangers all went into combat mode.

"Shit! Man down!" The turned back to the entrance of the hallway to see a solitary woman with a bow raised. They all raised their rifles to address her. When it became clear to Stuart she was the one that attacked them, he issued a command.

""Walt, check on Scott. The rest of you, ice this fucker!" The bark of automatic weapons fire filled the hall, but the woman seemed to not care she was being shot at. After a few seconds of firing, thus leaving their magazines half spent, they ceased firing and she chuckled.

"My my, what language you're recent… friends have Ozpin." She casually sent a ball of fire at the leftmost man, which happened to be corporal Nicolas. He wasn't set on fire, but the explosion knocked him into the side wall. The remaining men looked awestruck.

"What the fuck?"

"Shit man, was that magic?"

"I don't care whatever the fuck that was! Open fire!" Stuart's roar almost outdid the gunfire as the remaining soldiers attempted to avenge their comrades. On the receiving end of the rifles, the woman frowned.

" _Whoever these people are, their weapons are causing more damage than I'd like. I need to be done with this quickly."_ In a whirlwind of movement, she darted in and around the gunfire, pausing every now and then to fire her bow or to send off a ball of fire. Meanwhile, Jaune was wondering what to do as the three men fought off the woman while Pyrrha was in that strange device, and orange glow surrounding her. The woman once again fired her bow, but this time it found her original mark: the woman in the already occupied pod. It penetrated the glass and impaled her chest. With a gasp her life was ended. Pyrrha meanwhile was unconscious. Ozpin's passive facade broke into a frown. An orange ball of energy emerged from the dead woman and shot towards the attacker, merging with her before she was then surrounded with a swirling vortex of the same energy. Stuart decided he'd had enough, and suddenly he had an idea.

"Load grenades! Send this bitch to last year!" They all loaded shells into their M203 grenade launchers. Following Stuart's lead, they fired their explosives at the woman, who was now covered in an orange glow. A trio of explosions erupted in close proximity to her, and once the dust cloud emptied, she was no longer there. Ozpin walked ahead of them, caution etched on his face.

"We must go quickly." The pod with Pyrrha in it was open and Jaune had her slung over his back, Walt was carrying Scott and Hernandez was carrying Nicolas. As they sprinted back to the elevator Stuart activated his radio.

"Norfolk, this is Captain Stuart. There's been a change of plans; we're going to need that evac asap."

"Roger Captain Stuart, we can route some birds there now. ETA ten mikes. Over." A awkward silence filled the elevator as they ascended.

"Stuart was it? I guess I owe you and your men an explanation seeing as you were willing to risk your lives to help woman back there in the pod was one of the Maidens, people of extraordinary power, you've probably heard of them in the fairy tale. Once a maiden is killed, her powers go to the woman she last thought of, given she is young enough of course. That woman you fought against attempted to steal her powers, which is not something we could not allow, so Pyrrha Nikos here," he gestured an unconcious Pyrrha held by a very confused Jaune, "agreed to undergo a process that would transfer the Maiden's powers to her. We were interrupted but the process was ten percent complete, so she did not recieve the entierety of the powers." Jaune, Captain Stuart, and his men were left silent, thinking about what they just heard, but their musings were interrupted when the elevator opened up and they had to rush back outside. "Sarge" had apparently fortified the area with debris as the men were all in a perimeter around the entrance.

"Sarge!" Status report." "Sarge," a man with a nasty scar on the left side of his face, rushed up to Captain Stuart.

"Sir! We've been encountering progressively stronger waves of what the locals are calling Grimm. We've fortified the position but we've had problems getting the local fighters organized; they're all running around willy nilly and getting in melee range with the beasts and making it difficult to get fire down range without hitting them. I've also got word from Bragg that we have access to artillery support should we need it." Just as he finished the ground started to rumble. Stuart looked out to see a black mass rushing towards them.

"Well that's a good thing seeing as it looks like we need it right the hell now." He immediately contacted Fort Bragg. "Bragg this is Captain Stuart, requesting artillery 800 meters west of the large tower in the eastern edge of the city. Bring the rain, over." It was a moment before someone responded.

"Roger Captain Stuart, this is Field Battery Charlie. Confirmed we are sending rounds down range 800 meters west of the big tower." Dull "pops" could be heard in the distance while all those gathered stopped to watch the oncoming horde of Grimm. Sarge shouted out to all the teenagers.

"Everyone, get back to the building!" They all got within the perimeter and after a moment, explosions started to ravage the Grimm forces. The Rangers cheered while the students and Ozpin stared in mute awe at the display of firepower. Shell after shell detonated on the horde. causing devastation never before seen in Remnant.

"Field Battery Charlie, this is Captain Stuart. Good hit, repeat good hit."

"Roger Captain Stuart, we're glad to be of service. Watch your backs out there. Over." After the transmission, Stuart heard the beating of helicopter blades and looked up to see a group of Blackhawks flying towards them.

"Captain Stuart, this is Whiskey 3-8, we heard you needed a lift, over"

"Haha, roger that Whiskey 3-8, we appreciate it, over." The helicopters came in a landed. The Rangers then started filing the students onto the aircraft while Captain Stuart got on one with his squad and Ozpin, Jaune, and Pyrrha.


	3. Tank Beats Everything

Hi all, thanks for reading so far and all that jazz. Just a quick note to put my thoughts out there. So obviously the US Military is going to be pushing the Grimm out of Vale, but the aftermath of that is not so; this story starts in the last couple of episodes of the volume so I'm going to have to wing it for further stuff about the nature of the Grimm threat, who exactly Salem is and what she wants, and all other sorts of plot elements that are at least mentioned in the real series but have yet to be elaborated on as they are (presumably) going to be covered in the the next volume.

Also, on the matter of other Nations' armed forces: I had already planned on having foreign military personal in these US bases, I won't go to much into detail but they'll mostly be Naval in nature with a few ground forces. Actively bringing in more people is the tricky part, because, as a writer making a plot, that is basically cheating, but at the same time it's so god damn fun. I dunno, I'll think of something.

 **Tank Beats Everything**

 **Several kilometers east of Camp Pendleton**

Four tanks rolled across the sparser parts of the forest on the southern border of Vale. Other than the sounds of the treads and the engines, and the dull gunfire in the distance, the night was calm. Al didn't like it one bit. He looked up at the shattered moon in the sky, and a feeling of unease settled over him. This place was so much like home; they had trees, grass, flowing water, and a moon and stars in the sky, but it was all _wrong._ The platoon commander shook off the feeling, they had a job to do after all. He and Private Charlie "Mitch" Mitchell, their loader, were manning the machine guns on top of the turret and were dutifully scanning in front of the tank. He, and the other three tanks in his platoon, were ordered to punch towards Fort Bragg to link up with a force of their Army brothers before pushing into the city. He radioed the other tanks.

"I want you to conserve your main gun ammunition; try to stick to the MGs. Over." A trio of "Rogers" came in, but then he saw movement in the foliage. When it was clear it was one of those "Grimm" things, as the locals called them, he opened fire, tracer rounds ripping through the forest. "Driver stop." The tank ceased its advance as several more of the things appeared, and soon all three machine guns on the tank were firing at the hostiles. Soon after the other tanks joined in, laying down a stream of lead pain for any that stood in front of the metal behemoths. Despite the volume of fire, a few of the things got dangerously close, and just as it looked like they were pushing them back, one of them appeared on Al's right and before he get the gun on it it pounced. It sailed through the air, its claws extended before it, but a flash of blue and a gust of wind flashed passed the monster, cutting it in twain. As the beast dissipated, a middle aged man armed with a large axe stood in front of the tank. His weapon glowed with blue energy briefly before it went dark. Not a moment later, three more multi colored flashes streamed across the battlefield, dispatching the last of the Grimm in the area.

"Thanks for the save, the thing almost got me. You must be one of the local fighters I heard about, hunters of somethin'. I'm Lieutenant Jonathan Allen, 4th Tank Battalion, Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon." He leaned over the edge of the tank and offered a hand to the man. He smiled and shook it, a small beard and a scar across the bridge of his nose becoming apparent when he got closer.

"Blaumgart Holzaxt, leader of team BRNZ at yer service; you can just call me Blaum. We were patrolling this here forest when the Grimm arrived in force." He paused to lean on his axe and pull out a cigarette and light it. "We'd been fighting for a while when we heard you gents causin' a ruckus so we thought we'd lend a hand." He took a brief puff before continuing. "Can't say I've ever seen a contraption such as yours, you guys from Atlas?" Al looked at Mitch who just shrugged.

"No..? we're from the United States. No idea where it is in relation to this place but since your city-Vale was it?- was under attack by the same things that were attacking us, we were going to push into the city once we'd rallied up and push these Grimm things out. I'd appreciate the help if you wouldn't mind tagging along." By then the other three individuals were standing behind their leader. " _Quite the chromatic bunch, these Valians."_

"Getting the Grimm out of the city? Well sign us right up!" There were nods of approval from his teammates: a rather short man in a green overcoat with a sword at his hip and an eyepatch over his left eye, a woman in what looked like a knight's armor with crimson markings all over and a large spear or pike to her side, and a woman in what had to be a poncho with a piece of cloth covering the lower half of her face and a large, purple rifle on her back. Al scratched his chin for a moment.

"Well, it'll be a bit before we group up with the army boys. We got four tanks, there's four of you, let's make something happen. Why don't you hop on Meredith here." He patted the side of the turret. The four hunters all exchanged looks before each going off to one of the tanks. Blaum hopped on next to Al. "Driver forward." The tank once again started moving to their objective. Blaum was silent at first, enjoying the novelty of riding on the giant machine, but he had plenty of questions for Al.

"So, Allan right?"

"Please, call me Al."

"All right Al. So you all aren't from around here right? What exactly are these tank things? I must say they're very effective against the Grimm from the looks of it."

"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet. We haven't even fired her main gun! You'll see some fireworks when that happens. So, you guys don't have tanks? What do you use for fighting the other big stuff?" Blaum paused to think for a moment.

"Well, against particularly large Grimm we either get a team of particularly skilled hunters or a force of battle mechs, like the Atlas Paladins."

"Ah, we heard about those from our boys in the city. Giant humanoid lookin' robot right? So I guess our tanks fill a similar role. They can support infantry and also act as their own force. An entire force composed of tanks is quite the sight to behold. Imagine about thirty of these all racing across a desert to go fuck up someone's day." Al's mind went to memories of his time in the Middle East.

"I must say it looks like the main gun is quite destructive if the giant tube extending from the top is what I think it is."

"Yup, Meredith, and the rest of the Abrams, can pack quite a punch. 120 millimeters of fuck you." Blaum gaped while Al pat his tank again.

"120 millimeters? I've never heard of a gun that big! The largest weapons I know of are the lasers on the Atlas airships." Al chuckled at his response.

"While I take pride in your respect for the Abrams' main gun, you haven't even seen our aircraft or artillery pieces. But enough about us. How were you guys moving around so fast? I ain't never seen anyone move like you did."

"Well, hunters are trained from quite early on to perfect their Aura, which allows us to boost our physical capabilities." Al raised an eyebrow at that.  
"Aura? What is that exactly?" It was Blaumg's turn to look confused.

"You don't know what Aura is?" Al shook his head.

"We don't really have it in a "real" sense. I've heard the term used in the context of fantasy every now and then, like magic, but no, it isn't a thing where we come from." Blaum exhaled sharply.

"Well, Aura is the physical manifestation of the soul. It is unique to every person, one of the more obvious differences being the color it emits. Once it's been activated, it acts as like a natural defense system for the body, blocking physical harm and also rapidly healing any injuries. With enough training, one can unlock their Semblence, which is intrinsically linked with their Aura. It is a special ability of the user and is loosely based on their personality. Mine for instance allows me to send out gusts of dense, sharp wind that can cut through metal. Using it drains Aura though."

" _Souls, shields, and healing factor? What kind of mumbo jumbo is going on here?"_ "That stuff sounds useful as hell. Do you ever need to go to the hospital?"

"Sometimes; particularly draining battles can deplete our Aura, leaving us vulnerable to further injury. There are also wounds too grievous for Aura to handle; severed limbs come to mind." He was about to speak more, but Al received a transmission.

"Confirmed, I have visual. We are coming in now." He switched to his platoon, "2nd Platoon, we are coming into contact with 3rd company of the 504th from the 82nd Airborne. They've got a handful of Humvees and Bradleys. We're going to lead the charge and bust into the city from the south. Aerial reconnaissance shows us the city has farmland on the southern border, so we'll travers that before getting into the city proper. Once we're in, 3rd company will get out of their transports and proceed to clear through the industrial district. We are then to push into to what is likely a residential district to relieve Alpha Company of the First Ranger Battalion. By this time we can expect air support and we will be joined men of the 325th, ,also from the 82nd Airborne, via helicopter. From there we are to secure the giant tower on the western border of the city. Any questions?" When no one said he gave the order to get into formation with the 504th.

 **Vale Agricultural District**

Blaum marvelled at the force the Americans were forming. The group of vehicles formed into a wedge with 2nd Platoon acting as the tip of the spear. Smaller vehicles that looked similar to the Abrams that Al had told him were Bradleys made up the flanks behind the tanks and the car like vehicles with large guns mounted on the top called Humvees made up the back most ranks and the interior of the wedge. Blaum told him that the Bradleys and Humvees were meant to transport and provide support to infantry.

They drove on passed the farmland and to the city wall where a large section was destroyed: large enough for the entire formation to pass through. As they neared the city, a force of Grimm, attracted to their activity, started to emerge from the walls. Once he was able to identify what they were tapped Al on the shoulder.

"Crap, those are Deathstalkers. Their armor is tough but we've dealt with them before. However, I've never seen them in number like that." Al put on his binoculars and scanned the Grimm. There was a cluster of about thirty of them in their way.

"Well lets see if their armor can deal with HEAT rounds." He then spoke to the rest of their force. "Hold up everyone, we've got contacts. 2nd Platoon, load HEAT rounds, get firing solutions on those giant scorpions."

The formation stopped and Blaum watched with baited breath in anticipation of the Abrams' main gun. Mitch meanwhile headed back into the turret to get ready for his job as the loader. Al leaned over to Blaum. "You might want to cover your ears for this." After a few moments, Al told Jack to fire, and a massive "BOOM!" And a gout of flame erupted from the tank's gun. The shell sailed across to the frontmost Deathstalker and then it ceased to exist. Blaum's jaw dropped and Al gave a hearty chuckle.

"Alright boys and girls, fire at will." Three more "BOOM!"s Echoed across the battlefield and three more Deathstalkers disappeared in great explosions. The loaders dutifully tended to their tanks' ammunition while the gunners would choose another target. The Bradleys joined in as well, firing their heavy chain guns into the Grimm ranks. While not as effective as the dedicated anti-armor tank shells, the 25mm rounds perforated the Deathstalkers.

After a several minutes of utterly slaughtering the Grimm force, the formation prepared to advance into the city, but not before a great roar was heard. Out from the wall emerged what the Americans took to be a giant elephant but Blaum knew what it was. A goliath, one of the most powerful of the land based Grimm and a contender for the largest Grimm period. It would take a team of extremely skilled and experienced Hunters to take one down, or fire support from an Airship. He was about to give his input to Al when he adopted a different accent, "Tally ho gents! One of the great beasts of the Serengeti. Ten crowns to whoever can bring me its head! Give it wot for!" After silence greeted him on the comms, he went back to his normal accent, "That means fire ya dopes! Fire at will!" Happy to oblige, the tanks opened fire on the giant beast. With all four guns focused on it, the Goliath (once again to Blaum's surprise) went down within seconds in a wave of fire. The ground was still smoking when the formation pushed into the city.

"Hey Al, where can I get one of these tanks?"


	4. Putting the Puzzle Together

**Putting the Puzzle Together**

 **Fort Bragg**

General Gunther sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He'd been in another long distance conference with General Collins of the Marines, General Hu of the Air Force, and Admiral Kelly of the Navy, with himself as the representative of the Army. As the highest ranking officers of their respective branches, they'd been hard at work administrating their underlings, and most recently had been discussing Operation Shield of Freedom, the offensive action into the city of Vale in order to secure it from the Grimm. At one point Admiral Kelly had brought in Professor Ozpin to give them information about the city and their mutual enemy. On paper the plan should do well; armor from the Marines pushing in from the south, aerial insertions from the Army using Naval air assets to follow, and then air support from the Navy and Air Force for the mop up. He couldn't help but be worried about his men though, the, "No plan survives contact with the enemy," maxim was a well known one, and for good reason. His musings were interrupted by an aide calling his attention to another matter.

 **En Route to Beacon**

Private Crawford checked his M4 as he soared over the ground in a Blackhawk. The 82nd was one of the few groups mobilized for offensive action into the city. From what command had told them, the giant tower making up most of facility there were targeting, some sort of university for special forces soldiers from what he understood, was vital to the communications infrastructure for the whole city. He was part of a force tasked with securing the building and its immediate vicinity, then forming up defenses in anticipation of reinforcements from a tank platoon, a Ranger company, some of their other brothers from the 82nd, and some of the same local special forces. There was apparently some sort of dragon version of the Gimm things that was spawning more of them as it flew in addition to attracting other Grimm to its location. The Navy had promised air support within the next thirty minutes so its days were numbered. Until that time the 508th would have to cope.

When they were finally at the large tower, Captain Hernandez spoke up on the coms.

"Alright everyone, expect contact immediately after landing. Because we're not fighting traditional opposition we're abandoning traditional fire and maneuver tactics. I want us all to move as one cohesive force with machine gunners placed around key points of the perimeter; suppressive fire might not work on these things but the volume of fire the MGs put out will still be important for making sure we're not overwhelmed." With that the hellis landed and the soldiers work. Crawford spotted two of the things charging right at his squad so he took aim and quickly gunned them down. Hitting these things wasn't particularly difficult, it was the numbers that were the problem. Just as the Captain instructed, the force made a steady advance towards the tower, their formation more reminiscent of the Napoleonic or Civil Wars than anything recent as they laid down a steady stream of lead at anything that so much as looked at them funny. A squad posted up by an impressive looking statue and another to hold up by a set of pillars with orders to thin the Grimm forces and to fall back as soon as they might be overrun while the rest of the group continued to the building. Fighting was stiff as another squad broke off to make an MG nest in a pile of rubble and two more broke off to secure a destroyed wall to the south. The main group, now at the building's main entrance, stopped to form up around Captain Hernandez. "As you can see we've been slowly peeling off squads to act as independent strong points. Command's current theory is that as long as we can keep the enemy's strength unfocused, we should have a much easier time holding, all squads broken off from the main group will be joining us if they are overwhelmed. Now then, Lieutenant James, take two squads and establish firing positions from the upper floors. Sargent Cassel, take a squad and help James and Barkley clear the interior of any hostiles they come across. The rest of you, I want a nice defensive perimeter with overlapping fields of fire. Our Ranger buddies have already fortified this position somewhat so it should be easy to identify good fields of fire."

Crawford went off with his James, his Lt, and whistled as he entered the facility. Private Thomas, his closest friend in the squad, gestured to the ceiling with his SAW. "They've got quite the grasp on architecture, don't they?" Crawford nodded in agreement.

"Ya, looks more like a college or a cathedral than a training facility. The locals seem to have a taste for the finer things."

"Can it you two, don't want to attract any hostiles do ya?"

"Yes sir sergeant."

As the group moved through they encountered a handful of Grimm making a mess of the interior, but they were able to deal with them quickly. At one point they finally found a staircase and were on their way to what had to be the windows along the front of the building. When they arrived at their target, Crawford bashed open the glass with the butt of his rifle and Thomas peeked out with his SAW. The men below were busy firing at the Grimm, and he spotted Hernandez shouting orders in the center. James activated his radio.

"Sir! We've secure the second floor, Cassel's squad is returning now. Over."

"Roger that, you are clear to open fire on any hostiles. Over." James nodded at Thomas, who then unleashed his weapon onto the Grimm below. The other men joined in as well, firing from the destroyed windows. In addition to the gunfire and snarling that created the din of battle, an occasional explosion marking the discharge of a grenade or shoulder fired rocket. Things were going well until a giant black mass in the sky made itself known.

 **In an infirmary at Naval Station Norfolk**

Captain Stuart patted the hand of the motionless form of Private Scott. He was softly breathing, asleep from the recent surgery to remove the arrow in his back. Stuart then looked to the bed on his other side. Corporal Nicholas had sustained second and third degree burns and a concussion, but he would be fine. The constant beep of the machines monitoring their vitals assured him that his men were well past any risk of death, the doctors had even told him they would both be fit for duty once they recovered. Stuart was about to get up when he heard someone enter the room. He looked up to see Professor Ozpin, walking towards one of the beds on the far side of the room. It held a blond girl in what had to be her late teens, maybe early twenties, that had suffered a severed right arm. Ozpin walked over to her and scanned her with worried eyes before he finally spoke.

"You're people vex me, Captain Stuart." Briefly aghast at the sudden statement, Stuart took a moment to form a response."

"I wouldn't know why Professor. There doesn't seem to be much difference between us."

Ozpin had by that point walked up to Stuart and pulled up a chair and sat in it.

"It's not any cultural differences that confuse me, we share much in common in that regard. It is the nature of your existence that confuses me: you're past, your ideology, your technology. I've just been meeting with your Admiral; tell me, have your superiors told you about Aura? I've explained it to several of your leaders but I was wondering how far down the chain it had traveled."

"I don't rightly know Professor."

"Please, just Ozpin is fine. In that case, allow me to explain. Do you know what a soul is Captain?" Stuart exhaled sharply while he gathered his thoughts.

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's like a non-physical form of the self. I don't believe in them myself, but a lot of people back on Earth, and here even, believe that they persist once someone dies, and that this soul is what the person is when they go on to the afterlife they happen to believe in." Ozpin nodded.

"So in your own understanding, a soul is of more religious and spiritual significance?"

"That's a safe assumption, ya."

"It very much the same and different here on Remnant. We actually have souls, but not in a religious sense. We still have religions as well, but our souls exist independent of them, though they are significant within the religions. I can say with such certainty that we have souls Captain, because we can actually see them in action. Individuals such as myself have their Aura activated." Stuart nodded; he had overheard conversations among the students that evacuated with them mentioning such. "On one level, we do share a similar definition of souls, they are non-physical form of the self that will reflect their owner's personality and experiences, though, as far as we can tell, a soul is extinguished once it's owner passes on. Aura is directly based off of one's soul. A common definition on Remnant is that it is the physical manifestation of the soul that will act at the behest of its owner to protect them from harm or to more actively to directly influence the world around them in what we call a Semblance; I believe you witnessed such with that contemptible woman throwing fire at you and your men." Stuart nodded.

"So an aura would be like a sort of guardian for their user while a Semblance is a special power or ability?"

"Yes, exactly. I bring all this up Captain Stuart, because I want to try something, with your permission of course. I want to try to activate your aura." Stuart went silent for a moment, not sure what to think of all of this. He'd been an atheist most of his life so all this talk of souls was going to be a cause for some serious introspection.

"As long as nothing bad would happen if you do so then go ahead." Ozpin stood and clapped his hand together. He then placed one hand on Stuart's forehead.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." He stood back, placing both his hands on the top of his cane. Stuart turned his palms back and forth, trying to see if anything was different. He had felt a momentary rush of energy, as if he was being fueled by adrenaline, but it faded moments after Ozpin had broken contact.

"Was anything supposed to happen?"

"Normally a pulse of aura would resound once it is activated, I feared as much. No such pulse can occur because it seems that you don't have an aura. This can only mean one thing: you don't have a soul." Stuart didn't know whether to be indifferent, saddened, or outraged, being called soulless is quite the insult.

"Thank you for trusting me Captain. However, you've simply helped me confirm a greater fear." Stuart scratched the back of his head.

"Ya, no problem Ozpin. So, what is this fear I confirmed?" By this point Ozpin was back in his seat, his brow scrunched in thought.

"For that I'll have to give you a small history lesson. From as far as we can remember, Humanity, our Humanity at least, has been at threat from the forces of Grimm. Early in our history, we were on the brink of extinction, only being saved by our discovery and of utilization of dust, a substance that to this day is quintessential for the operating of our civilization. I won't go too far into detail on it yet at least, but it's basically the energy of Remnant and it embodies the elements: fire, air, water, and so forth." He was about to continue but Stuart held up his hand to interject.

"Wait, fire, air, and water? What do you consider the elements to be?" Ozpin looked confused at this.

"The energies of the world; others would be earth, lightning, and ice, but there are more. Why do you ask?"

"The concept of elements exists in our world too, but your definition fits one from our world that's been obsolete for a few thousand years now." Ozpin scratched his chin with a hand.

"Interesting, more questions to ask, but later, we're getting off track. So the Grimm. Just barely Humanity survived them and still we are at constant threat of extinction, and its been like this for thousands of years. And this is where we get to the heart of the problem: every living thing on Remnant has a soul, every tree, bird, flower, and man, woman, child, with one major exception, and I believe you've been well acquainted with it by now Captain Stuart."

"The Grimm…"

"Yes, and that is exactly why it is a problem that your people don't have souls, at least not in our sense. Once word gets out, and it surely will, a great deal of hostility will be imbibed within the populace. How can we trust something that shares a trait with our ancient enemy? We have a… history of prejudice, particularly against a subgroup of Humanity called the Faunus. I'm sure you've recognized them by the animal features."

"Ya, they were a bit strange, such things only exist in fiction back on Earth. A lot of the men thought they were cute though. Other than that we don't think much of them."

"That is good to hear. Here, it is much different. Faunus are a persecuted minority. While a lot of the cities have legal equality, racism is very much a problem on Remnant."

"I don't think we're one to judge Ozpin. You've seen how some of my men have darker skin pigment? Subject to massive persecution and structural racism 'bout fifty years ago. Even now, you'll find someone every now and then that's a racist against them."

"It seems establishing prejudices is a very Human trait, but alas." Ozpin stood up. "Thank you very much for the conversation Captain, it was extremely enlightening. I've got another meeting with your superiors." Stuart gave a brief wave from his seat.

"Ya, take care Ozpin."


End file.
